The Final Track

Not really. Parachutes and A Rush are great records.

Salami

Here's an interesting idea:

Find the song "Clocks", and then immediately afterwards look up their song "Speed of Sound". And what you'll find is that they are absolutely fucking identical in every way, they haven't even bothered to find a new key.

And that's not the only problem. They often slip into the frustrating problem of disguising their lack of imagination by playing agonisingly slowly.

Although the music video for "the Scientist" is fantastic, the instrumentation is disgraceful, without any variation or expanding on the tune whatsoever during the song, which is really disappointing for what was potentially a great idea.

FRED HALE SR.

I like a few songs. Most notably Moses. I have a live dvd/cd a friend gave me for a birthday present its not oustanding by any means, but there are a few songs decent enough to put on as background music. They have kind of falling into the popularity trap.

wiseoldtyler

i actually quite like coldplay because their songs are easy to listen to, he has a voice you can get lost in and you can relate to their songs as well. they're really creative songwriters, they're not afraid to explore using unusual arrangements and sound in their music, and they're very energetic performers. They have impressed me since they first formed as their music has changed a lot and every song is different, for example, their song "Yellow" is completely different to their latest song "Paradise". They put on amazing performances which are extremely interesting and inspiring to watch, especially if you are a musician.

Salami

This here is exactly my problem. The lyrics concern the most non-specific malaise possible, described in the most non-descript way.

To expand a little, the songs are written with the intention of seeming to relate to all the problems in everyone's lives, hence their popularity and huge sales.
They empathise with everybody by appealing to basic feelings and making their lyrics as vague as possible.

To give some evidence for this - here's a sample from the brain numbing, infuriatingly hypnotic experience that is "Clocks":

The boldened lyrics illustrate my issue: none of this really says anything. "Come out of the THINGS unsaid" - what sort of things? The point is that everyone says things they are in some way ashamed of, but what is it about this that's the problem?

Most obviously, "trouble that can't be named". This to me seems nothing more than an attempt to appeal to as many people as possible. Why can't they expand on it? Perhaps it's through shame or resolution to forget about something, but when this theme permeates every song they seem to write it gets more obvious that all they want to do is make people thing that the songs are specific to them, when actually if they appealed to anything above the most basic common denominator they would lose that appeal.

Obviously, these are just my feelings, if you like them, fair enough. But I can't really find any real emotion conveyed through such abstract and nondescript lyrics.

LuckyLovexoxoxxx

Not really a big fan of them

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AmazingPurpleCat

I agree with Salami

Also, why are Coldplay in the indie and alternative section?

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Scarlett O'Hara

I kind of agree with this. What's the best section to move this thread to?

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14232949

pop.

I feel inclined to agree. It's almost too easy to take a pop at Coldplay. It's even fashionable to a degree to list them as a band you dislike.
However, there is no doubt that they're talented guys, and their earlier records are worth checking out.

Salami

Well, you dumped the Nickelback thread in the jokes forum, which in my opinion was a very good decision. Should Coldplay receive the same treatment?

Manky, this is true - the amount of people who bash them to feel superior are huge - often over-zealous Radiohead fans who will accuse them of ripping them off. However, I think they are sufficiently accredited and have more awards and recognition than they merit.
And I feel the opposite about the "earlier records = superior" business. As much as I hate Brian Eno, I think he managed to make something of the ideas that went into Viva la Vida, an album that even I can't say I dislike.

However Parachutes seems the opposite - "Shiver" is clearly an excellent song, but they keep repeating exactly the same aesthetic for all the others. "Trouble" really bores me to tears, and I say this in the least offensive way I can.